Luck be a lady

It was a week of girl power on DAYS. And I don't just mean because Will continued his quest to sabotage the entire case for the male gender having a brain. I mean because some fantastic gals stepped up and made a valiant attempt to save Sweeps.

Before last week, DAYS was the Paul/Will/Sonny show. That's not a terrible thing, as that storyline was great. But thankfully, a handful of wonderful women joined the party last week to spread out the love. Let's name them off!

The list starts with Nicole and Melanie. I love that these two characters are teaming up. But, right of the bat, I have to say that I want the old Nicole to team up with the old Melanie. I don't want these Daniel-ized versions of their former selves anywhere near, on, or about my TV screen. I definitely could have gone without Nicole objecting to helping Melanie multiple times on the grounds that Daniel might not put a sticker next to her name on the good-behavior chart.

Also, I was downright shocked the name Trent Robbins never once came up during their conversations. It's one of the bigger writing whiffs when it comes to use of history that I've seen on the show in a while.

For those of you new to the show, Trent was Nicole's first husband and all shades of abusive -- so much so that she left in the middle of the night and never looked back, not even to file divorce papers. Fresh off this loss and ready to terrorize another girl, Trent was all too happy to take a certain problem off his good buddy Lawrence Alamain's hands. So, when Lawrence's wife turned up pregnant with another man's (Daniel's) baby (Melanie), Lawrence gave the baby to Trent, who went on to use Melanie as a sexual bargaining chip to pay off his own gambling debts. You read that right. Trent would owe money to a man. And instead of sending money, he'd send Melanie.

But sure, bonding over how much Mel and Nicole both adore Daniel seems just as strong a connection. Moving on...

I love that it took Nicole all of about 30 minutes to find dirt on Dr. Mandrake. While it's been clunky getting here, right now, this storyline has a lot going for it. We've got the DiMera angle with Kristen's involvement. We've got the manic chemistry between Brady and Theresa. (Do they hate each other? Do they love each other?) And now we've got the Nicole and Melanie team, which consists of two people who utterly do not know the meaning of the notion "give up." Nice job, ladies!

The next gal about town is Kate. Clyde got mad when he learned that Kate was the one who told Jordan and made Jordan break up with Chad, who will probably now press charges against, never mind; it doesn't matter. The point is that Kate and Clyde have made a turn toward Splitsville, and I couldn't be happier. Now she can focus on the men of the House of DiMera, like she always should have.

Heck, I'm willing to even chalk up the lukewarm Jordan/Chad love affair to a successful plot point if it means that Chad is so upset over losing her that he called up Stefano to get back into the mix to battle Kate. Because obviously, Stefano makes every storyline better.

I really feel like Chad's the son that Kate always should have had. He's not afraid to push back. Kate needs someone who can challenge her. I don't buy for a second that their relationship will remain adversarial forever. But I like that it can swing back and forth.

Plus, if the show uses his history, he's a fascinating character on his own! For example, Kate asked Chad why he was so willing to hold onto one girl. Oh! Oh! Pick me! What is, "Because I never got the chance to know, raise, or grieve the death of my daughter, Alex!"

If not Grace, bring up the fact that Chad's mother died, his stepfather blamed him, and Stefano swooped in to DiMera-ize the kid before he turned 20. There's a mountain of good character traits to build upon. Don't chalk his attitude up to the fact that he's just another entitled DiMera. Chad's got glimmers of that tortured soul that made E.J. intriguing, and the show needs to dig into those.

Plus, he needs to be paired with someone who will bring that out of him. Much as I like Kate Mansi, I'm not sure if Abigail is that gal. Besides, we flew right past the point of seeing how far Abigail will go into bad judgment a Horton Cabin ago. So at this juncture, I'd like to see Chad have a drink with Theresa or even Mel again.

Or heck, he can have drinks with me! Because heaven knows I need one after having to listen to Will explain Sonny's seat at the blame table. The only saving grace about the whole thing was that Sonny was probably still on some good drugs and didn't have to experience that full-on display of utter lunacy that would make Sami and Lucas ashamed to call this weak excuse for a schemer their son.

I do not think Will watches the show. He's under the impression that Sonny came directly off a breakup with Paul and right into a proposal to Will. First of all, no. Sonny passed on Hottie McBlueEyes and Brent the Decorator for your miserable self, Will.

Second, I can pretty much guarantee that Sonny legitimately loved Will to pieces because, given what we now know about what happened with Paul, another guy still in the closet is the absolute last thing Sonny would be looking for when he came to Salem. Actually, Will was even worse. At least Paul knew he was gay. Will was still knee-deep in girls when Sonny came to town and Sonny still waited for the dude.

And that brings me to the one small point that Will may have. I can see how it would come as a shock to Will -- or anyone for that matter -- to learn that your husband proposed to someone else before you. I can see how you would act like a bit of a fool upon immediately learning that news. However, that excuse only justifies Will's actions from that point on. That excuse is not retroactive. It does shift any blame to Sonny for the boneheaded things Will did before acquiring that knowledge.

So to say that none of this would have happened if Sonny had been open and honest with Will is preposterous. Basically, it means that Will would have given it up to a totally different hot guy and not the one Sonny used to love. Whew! I'm sure Sonny feels much better now. Ugh. Have all the seats, Will.

Clearly, I need to go to my happy place, so let's get back to talking about the leading ladies of the week. Finally, live and in person, we got to meet Tori Narita! One, I love her because it means that Paul gets more scenes. But more importantly, she clearly knows Marlena. It could be that she reads the paper and recognized the devil-possessed Salem Stalker. Or, it could be something related to Marlena treating someone she knows. But I'm going to aim higher with my wish.

I hope that Tori recognized Marlena because of John. Because I want John to be Paul's father.

John needs something to do now that he's back in town. I love the wink to Drake's real-life baseball past. Plus, John does fit the bill for a guy who mysteriously disappeared before Tori could even tell him that she was pregnant. Gaps in one's memory will do that to a fella. Plus, I kind of like the idea of Brady having a brother.

I'll give the J.J./Eve storyline one thing. It's involving a lot of characters. The problem is that most of them are adults. I'm talking to you, Daniel, Maggie, Theresa, Jennifer, and Abigail. Did y'all hear there's a new club in town? Why don't you all go check that out. While there, you can talk about your 401ks, drink wine, and reminisce about a time when John Travolta wasn't a total weirdo.

Leave the kids' storyline to the actual kids. Between Paige, Cole, Rory, and now Roxanne, J.J. has enough supporting characters around him.

And can we just chat about that little slice of lovely that is Roxanne? I adore her! She knew within minutes that J.J. was leaving something out of his story. And she correctly schooled him on how karma works. She's a breath of fresh common sense that that this storyline desperately needs. I hope J.J. tells her the whole story. Because someone needs to tell J.J. that if you can repeatedly sleep with someone else, then your six-month-old relationship probably wasn't all that awesome to begin with. And I think Roxanne may just be the no-nonsense kind of gal to do it!

In the meantime, ooff, that meeting between Paige and Roxanne was probably a lot meaner than J.J. planned it to be. Listen, J.J., there's a whole thing about winning the breakup that cannot happen if you parade in front of us with a gorgeous gal draped across your torso. These are the rules. LOOSE ENDS I can't shake the feeling that Nicole is going after Daniel because he's the closest guy to saying yes. To be fair, she's probably not wrong. Daniel's always been a sure thing.

Sorry, Hope. I think it's a little late for you to be wondering if Ciara is going to grow up to be some sort of troubled kid.

According to Eve, Paige's dad left home eight years ago. Paige is now 18, making her ten when her dad left. I could have sworn that in previous episodes, Paige said that she never knew her father because she was so young when he left. So either Paige is lying, or she really needs to rethink a career as a doctor, considering her extreme memory deficiencies.

Tori: "You can't pitch anymore. Your brilliant career is over, and your life will never be the same again." Gee, Tori, give someone else a chance in the Mother of the Year competition!

HOT

Can we keep this new Rafe forever and ever? Because I am really starting to adore him. Not only does his trademark snark work best when he's the supporting character to Victor. But last week, his ego took a huge step back by coming right out and telling Jordan that he was the one who got himself kicked off the force because he played pretzel with the law. And he didn't even let her hair flipping convince him otherwise. I can't believe it, but I'm about to start a slow clap for Rafe. Who's with me?

NOT Eve is reaching stratospheric levels of pathetic. I get that she loves her daughter. I really do. But showing up at her daughter's college campus to complain that her daughter won't be her friend anymore is utterly embarrassing for both of them. This woman needs an adult companion immediately.

LINE OF THE WEEK Eric (to Serena): "Seriously, please let the elephant go!" He was a man of God. You should listen to him. #FreeFred

I'm confused. Isn't Jennifer's church St. Luke's? All this talk about a clothing drive at "Jennifer's church" seems really weird.

Of course Eric cooks dinner topless.

I want Roxanne's outfit. Love the dress, love the scarf, love the tights, love everything. A++++

For all that's holy, even Eve's keys get the moan theme music? Really?

Not being a coffee drinker myself, I think vodka coffee sounds utterly terrible. Sorry, Anne.

I'm not gonna lie, having an ex disconnect his phone is not the worst thing to happen to a gal.

I actually laughed out loud when Paige said, "I'm Eve." Oh honey, you are so far away from being an Eve. You're totally a Belle.

Sonny is a rare breed of soap character. He actually remembered a conversation he walked in on and called the participants out on lying to him about it! Someone should freeze his DNA right now.

Clearly, this video is the best thing ever.

Get your Shane fix here.

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